Ryan Shay Remembered In Central Park Ceremony

With a brilliant sun glinting through the red, green and orange fall foliage of Central Park, about 200 Ryan Shay family and friends remembered him in a brief ceremony Saturday morning. The ceremony included a wreath carried by a youth running group to "Ryan's rock," adjacent to where Shay collapsed last November, a prayer by his widow Alicia Craig Shay, a park bench dedication by Saucony president Richie Woodworth, and comments by Mary Wittenberg, Alicia's mother Sally Craig, and former Notre Dame teammates. Among the well-known runners in attendance: Sara and Ryan Hall, and Jason Lehmkuhle and Magdalena Lewy Boulet.

"This is the first time I've been back in New York and the first time that I've seen where Ryan fell," said Alicia Shay in a prepared statement. "It was difficult but having family and friends at this special place made it a healing experience for all of us. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to say thank you to all who remember Ryan."

Standing in front of the new park bench, Woodworth presented Alicia Shay with a photo-plaque of her husband. It showed Ryan Shay standing on the start line of last year's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials next to Ryan Hall, and also contained a quote from Shay: "It is necessary to dig deep within oneself to discover the hidden grain of steel called will." Added Woodworth: "Ryan was more than an elite athlete to all of us at Saucony, he was a member of our family, and we're honored to help put this bench here in perpetuity in his memory."

As hundreds of Central Park joggers and New York City Marathoners ran past just yards from the Shay assemblage, a teary-eyed Mary Wittenberg reflected on Ryan Shay's impact. "A year later, I thought the pain would be less," said the New York Road Runners president and CEO. "But it's not. And perhaps that's appropriate, because it tells how much Ryan meant to us all. But I believe in God, and when I remember the cold, dark day a year ago, and I look up today at a scene that's so incredibly different, I really believe that's because Ryan is shining down on us."

Shay's former Notre Dame teammates Sean Zanderson and Luke Watson remembered him with a mix of humor and seriousness. Zanderson in particular told one funny Shay story after another. Of their first meeting, Zanderson said: "I felt like a baseball fan who had met Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle or Lou Gehrig. I idolized Ryan, I was in awe of him, and I was scared of him."

Zanderson was afraid of Shay because he had heard the stories about Shay's legendary toughness, particularly in training sessions. Watson spoke more about this. "I'd show up for practice and Ryan would have this look in his eye, and he'd say, 'Dude, I'm going to pound you today,' " Watson recalled. "At first I thought he just wanted someone to beat up on. But when I look back now, I realize it was his way of wanting to make me better, of wanting to make himself better, of wanting to make all of us on the team better."

The ceremony ended with Shay family and friends leaving a white rose, a symbol for "new beginnings," on the park bench. They kept for themselves a red rose to signify the passion that characterized Shay's approach to life and sport. And then they walked quietly into the brilliant early-November sunshine.